The Official 2015-2016 NBA Regular Season Thread

[wustin]

His shooting percentage would prob be the same if he shot left handed.

[kingfc22]

Some very, very entertaining basketball being played right now between Golden State and OKC.

[Zinto]

What a game!

[kingfc22]

That was just ridiculous.

[bhlloy]

Curry is just absolutely stupid. How do you defend that?

[Young Drachma]

Steph is an extra terrestrial.

Steph had 46, tied the record for 3's in a game, broke the season record for 3's and made a 35-footer to win in OT. What just happened???

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) February 28, 2016

[Young Drachma]

The game winning shot. Also a shot that tied the NBA record for most 3 pointers in a game.

[wustin]

Good call to not call a timeout to throw the defense off.

[Wolfpack]

At some point with Curry, it's progressed from "he made it?!" to "of course, he made it!" usually with some disbelieving chuckle like I did tonight seeing that. Quite simply, there's not a shot he can't make anywhere within half court at this point and you're actually more surprised when he misses them. There's just no defending that.

[Vince, Pt. II]

That was absurd. What a game.

[wustin]

Time to instill the Curry rules

[AENeuman]

Amazing. So great to see two top teams playing their hearts out in February. Wife and I were losing our minds over the free throws at the end of regulation... then that shot

[JonInMiddleGA]

The tweets about Curry from other NBA players are fun stuff.

--------

Draymond's "robot" rant at halftime though, sounds like some testy stuff.
I'll say it now: they're a Curry sprained ankle or sprained finger from being knocked out of the playoffs at any moment (okay, maybe not in the first round)

Curry is ... well if you put him through a CAT scan I think they'd find a synth chip. But everything else? I've just got a funny feeling, that's all I'm saying.

[Simbo Klice]

The box score for that game looks like it was created by a 4th grader. Draymond with 2 points on 0-8 shooting, 14 boards, 14 assists. Curry 12-16 from 3... Wild stuff.

[wustin]

14 boards, 14 assists, 6 steals, 4 blocks on 2 points lol

He's like this generation's Dennis Rodman.

[Brian Swartz]

So Golden State is officially in the playoffs. With 24 games left.

I'm not sure I believe that fact.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Curry is just absolutely stupid. How do you defend that?

the problem, which many don´t seem to realize, is that defense is "muscle memory"/instinct as well. Players are just not programmed to defend 35 feet from the basket. And heck, the guy shoots 50+% from outside 28 feet.

If anybody wants to rewatch the Curry Highlights:



so many bonkers-shots ...


Westbrook landing on his ankle was a little scary, but also seems to show that his feet are not really made out of glas as it seemed early in his career. He also has played 78,78,80 and now again all but 2 so far games his last 4 seasons.

[korme]

That was incredible.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by whomario

the problem, which many don´t seem to realize, is that defense is "muscle memory"/instinct as well. Players are just not programmed to defend 35 feet from the basket. And heck, the guy shoots 50+% from outside 28 feet.

Problem is he is so smart he would have drawn a foul if anyone pulled up on him at the end. It was a no win situation for the defender.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'm still just floored by all that happened in last night's game. That may be the best regular season game I've ever seen. Outside of Klay Thompson's 37 point quarter...man what a performance.

[Groundhog]

Curry takes and makes exactly the kind of shots that guys have been instructed to force their opponents into taking on defense ever since they first picked up a basketball, and knocks them down at the same rate that other guys knock down open spot up corner 3s. You don’t instinctually man up on the ball handler when he is still so far beyond the arc, especially if it’s not out of a timeout where you’ve been instructed to lock on Curry anywhere on the court.

I keep waiting for the law of averages to catch up with him, but it just doesn't look like it's going to happen. There is still the danger of Curry playing like a human for back-to-back games in the playoffs, but the supporting cast is good enough now on both ends that it doesn’t necessarily mean you can chalk up an ‘L’, which was the case the year before last.

[Atocep]

Phil Jackson is getting mocked for comparing Steph to Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abul-Rauf. The comparison seems silly on the surface, but I think it's great.

Abdul-Rauf was one of the most gifted scorers I've ever seen and had he played under today's rules would probably be able to get numbers in the same ballpark as Curry. He didn't have Steph's handle and wasn't quite the shooter Steph is, but the styles of play are similar and overall the skills are probably closer than most would think.

[albionmoonlight]

Dale Brown had Chris Jackson for two years followed by two years of Shaq at LSU and never got past the second round of the NCAAs. One of the forgotten horrible college coaching runs.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Dale Brown had Chris Jackson for two years followed by two years of Shaq at LSU and never got past the second round of the NCAAs. One of the forgotten horrible college coaching runs.

They played together in 89-90 and lost in the 1st round of the SEC tournament which got them a 2nd round matchup against the classic Georgia Tech team with Dennis Scott, Kenny Anderson, and Brian Oliver.

[bronconick]

I like how 2k can't even program Curry.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Phil Jackson is getting mocked for comparing Steph to Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abul-Rauf. The comparison seems silly on the surface, but I think it's great.

Abdul-Rauf was one of the most gifted scorers I've ever seen and had he played under today's rules would probably be able to get numbers in the same ballpark as Curry. He didn't have Steph's handle and wasn't quite the shooter Steph is, but the styles of play are similar and overall the skills are probably closer than most would think.

I see it more as Phil trying to be clever/contrarian or (more harmless) referring to the style. Abdul-Rauf was "almost as good as Steph" in the same way the saying applies to, say, Nick van Exel.

No one else is getting "numbers in the same ballpark" as Curry among small guards now, so a decent guard from the 90s would do it ? While he would likely benefit from the more open style of play, but then again the pace of the game was similar/higher for more than half of his career seasons (the big dip happened in 94/95).

He was also 6 foot and change with limited "length" and even in todays free flowing style the number of guards of that height that are allowed to be scorers primarily is pretty short.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Phil Jackson is getting mocked for comparing Steph to Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abul-Rauf. The comparison seems silly on the surface, but I think it's great.

I dunno about "great" but it's definitely not mock-worthy bad either as comparisons go.

I hit "yeah, okay, I see where he's coming from" within seconds of hearing it.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Phil Jackson is getting mocked for comparing Steph to Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abul-Rauf. The comparison seems silly on the surface, but I think it's great.

Abdul-Rauf was one of the most gifted scorers I've ever seen and had he played under today's rules would probably be able to get numbers in the same ballpark as Curry. He didn't have Steph's handle and wasn't quite the shooter Steph is, but the styles of play are similar and overall the skills are probably closer than most would think.

I don't think Chris Jackson was half the defensive player that Curry is(something I'm not sure Curry gets enough credit for). I'd rather compare him to a shorter Reggie Miller as they had similar numbers but I don't think Miller's teams ran the same pace. Nash passed more often than Curry but I feel had similar pace/shooting numbers.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by whomario

I see it more as Phil trying to be clever/contrarian or (more harmless) referring to the style. Abdul-Rauf was "almost as good as Steph" in the same way the saying applies to, say, Nick van Exel.

No one else is getting "numbers in the same ballpark" as Curry among small guards now, so a decent guard from the 90s would do it ? While he would likely benefit from the more open style of play, but then again the pace of the game was similar/higher for more than half of his career seasons (the big dip happened in 94/95).

He was also 6 foot and change with limited "length" and even in todays free flowing style the number of guards of that height that are allowed to be scorers primarily is pretty short.

The numbers were in the same ballpark until last year when Curry took his game to another level. Curry was still clearly the better player, but the raw numbers and styles were similar. I do think Abdul-Rauf would be a borderline all-star level player in this era and his numbers would have been similar to pre-'14-15 version of Curry..

The eras were far different outside of just pace. If you were under 6'5" and not a true point guard you were a 6th man in most cases (see: Dell Curry, Ricky Pierce, ect). No one shot 3s like today's top shooters either. That was an era where guys growing up simply weren't allowed to shoot 3s because they had coaches that didn't like them/didn't believe in them. They didn't have the chance to develop as shooters like players today do.

Curry the past 2 years has been one of the best players the NBA has seen and, yes, no one is touching what he's doing from a numbers and efficiency standpoint. I think the comparison was interesting one because it's a guy that's largely forgotten, especially by those that didn't watch him play.

[wustin]

well....

Stephen Curry | NBADraft.net

Originally Posted by nbadraft.net

NBA Comparison: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

circa 2008

[stevew]

It's going to be funny when Festus Ezeli gets 1.5 as much as Curry next year.

[whomario]

@ Atocep: If you say "same ballpark as Currys first couple seasons" thats a different thing And i agree that Abdul-Rauf was a fun player to watch, but there´s also a reason why he was a much more prolific college player than he was a pro. And i honestly don´t think he´d have been a (decent) teams best player nowadays.

I am not sure if people truly realize the full extent of how incredible his scoring/efficiency is. He is actually in the same ballpark as Jordans most prolific seasons in terms of per36 minute and per100 posession scoring (Jordan played 40+ minutes) while being the most efficient scorer in the league. "Style of play" or no, he is having one of the Top3-5 scoring seasons by any measure leading a team on pace for the best regular season record ever.

Basketballreference Filter

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by murrayyyyy

I don't think Chris Jackson was half the defensive player that Curry is(something I'm not sure Curry gets enough credit for).

Part of that is the eye-test. Despite the fact that he's a perfectly adequate defender, he is usually the worst defender on the floor for the Warriors. Teams will try to run at him because of that, and a lot of points are scored against him.

[Groundhog]

I remember reading a really interesting article about Abul-Rauf's OCD years and years ago - basically, he would practice in intense rain or shine, needing to not only make a certain amount of shots in a row, but swish a certain amount of shots in a row, or else he just couldn't stop... sometimes on the verge of collapse.

[Vince, Pt. II]

It's absolutely stunning the difference in the look of the Warriors without Curry on the floor. The spacing, the pace, and the flow of the offense are mind-blowingly different without Steph out there.

[albionmoonlight]

Baron Davis just signed with the 76ers D-league team.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Speaking of coaching preparedness. JB Bickerstaff is now coaching a roster with Harden, Howard, Lawson, and Josh Smith. Good luck with that young fella.

Out goes Lawson, in comes Michael Beasley.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Baron Davis just signed with the 76ers D-league team.

He'd better hope he plays well or he'll get demoted to Philly.

[nol]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Out goes Lawson, in comes Michael Beasley.

If only Philadelphia had traded a first round pick for Lawson instead. All about hanging that 20-win banner up in the rafters.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oh those wacky Rockets

The third quarter had a dustup between Dwight Howard and Patrick Beverley. The two argued early the third running down the court and were taken out of the game by JB Bickerstaff. The two argued along the bench area and didn't return to the game until 6:09 remained.

[Alf]

Dwight Howard. You said it all.

[stevew]

I dunno if anyone's ever entered with one image(the nice kind Christian boy who will become a franchise player) and then diverged as greatly as Howard(Team cancer with 5+ babymommas). He's genuinely one of the worst players in the entire league to watch.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by stevew

I dunno if anyone's ever entered with one image(the nice kind Christian boy who will become a franchise player) and then diverged as greatly as Howard(Team cancer with 5+ babymommas). He's genuinely one of the worst players in the entire league to watch.

And to quote KD, he's a pussy.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

And to quote KD, he's a pussy.

Kevin Durant calls Dwight howard a P**sy as Rockets-Thunder Rivalry Heats up - YouTube

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

And to quote KD, he's a pussy.

http://i.imgur.com/i1Ok6qN.webm

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Shkspr

He'd better hope he plays well or he'll get demoted to Philly.

[Brian Swartz]

So San Antonio is in now as well, and the Pistons still don't see to be able to spell the word 'consistency' even when a number of other teams in the East have figured it out. Don't even know if I want them to make the playoffs this year at this point. A first-round matchup against Cleveland or the Raptors would not be pretty, although maybe worthwhile as a growing experience.

Also, I want the Pelicans to somehow win the lottery and see Davis + Simmons for the next 10 years. Don't even care how well the team does, that would be ridiculously entertaining IMO.

[murrayyyyy]

One of those there is no way that is right stats...

Warriors: 55 wins in last 128 days
Sixers: 55 wins in last 1,083 days

[Brian Swartz]

I agree. No way the Sixers have won that many games :P.

[nol]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Also, I want the Pelicans to somehow win the lottery and see Davis + Simmons for the next 10 years. Don't even care how well the team does, that would be ridiculously entertaining IMO.

Looking at the current lottery trying to figure out which teams would be the best/most fun fit for Simmons reminds me of why I thought Dragan Bender sneaking in as the top pick wouldn't be a totally shocking outcome.

If you plotted winning percentage vs. 3-point percentage of the team's point guard/primary playmaker, the correlation would be astounding. Here's a little list I hacked together: Mudiay, Rondo, Rubio, Norris Cole, Elfrid Payton, Ish Smith, Derrick Rose, and Michael Carter-Williams (who's now benched, but the Bucks are playing another non-shooter in Giannis at PG to slightly better results) are all at the bottom of this list. Throw in Shelvin Mack for Utah and whoever the hell is playing PG for Phoenix right now, and that leaves the Wizards (and nobody's mistaking John Wall for a three-point threat) and Lakers (worst defensive team in the league by far) as the only lottery teams with their own draft pick who have a credible shooter in that position.

Obviously I'm not saying "you can't draft Simmons if he's not going to mesh with Elfrid Payton!" because he's talented enough to render most of the players I listed tradeable, but it really shows how tough it is to build a winning lineup like that; if your team doesn't have a unicorn of a 3 point shooter/rim protector, you need everyone else in the lineup to be able to hit threes at a pretty decent clip or else it's going to be ugly.

So beyond the Pelicans, Orlando could be really fun with a lineup with Fournier, Hezonja, Simmons, Gordon, and X (either Vucevic, Payton, Oladipo or whoever you could get by trading some combination of them), but Scott Skiles is probably not the coach/decision maker to facilitate that.